Fire officials frustrated with lax views on smoke alarms

Despite the damaging and deadly fires so far in 2018, Oshawa Fire Services continue to be frustrated with the lack of working smoke alarms in Oshawa homes.

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

The message is out there, but how well it is getting through is a whole another issue.

Since the beginning of 2018, Oshawa Fire Services has responded to 10 fires at nine homes and one business.

In all, these fires resulted in the loss of four lives and $4 million in property damage.

Deputy Chief Steve Barkwell says while the number of fires the service has responded to isn’t overwhelming, what’s concerning is the discovery that in 80 per cent of these fires, smoke alarms were either not installed or without working batteries.

“That is extremely high,” Barkwell tells The Oshawa Express. “Smoke detectors are very important for early detection.”

The Oshawa Fire Service is very proactive in its approach to spreading awareness of the importance of smoke alarms.

Fire officials often engage in door-to-door campaigns and regularly remind residents to test their smoke alarms.

After a fire on Centre Street North in January led to the deaths of four people including two children, Oshawa fire officials took to Twitter with the #MySmokeAlarmWorks campaign.

Residents are asked to use the hashtag and post pictures of themselves checking their smoke alarm.

While Barkwell says they’ve received favourable responses to these initiatives, the message hasn’t sunk in with as many people as they’d hope.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of those issues that seems to be overlooked,” he says.